Wire box or crate

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a wire box or a crate made of wires welded to one another in which to place flower pots, whereby the frame of the upper and base surface consists of four wires running perpendicular to one another, the base and upper surface being parallel to one another at a distance practically equal to the height of the flower pots to be placed therein.

[111 3,784,044 Jan. 8, 1974 United States Patent 1191 Bruggeman et al.

[ WIRE BOX OR CRATE 2/1935 Pawsat............... 2/1921Clairemont........ 11/1939 Mooter et S N m T A m L P P. A R O S T m T AP N m m m M m 1 m mum mbe am Jn mm a r FBV & r o t n e V n I T U mm 8.!m8 um .1 Wr. SG 874 266 999 NH 026 677 112 800 9 46 249 e g e v e w Z AS n n e 9 I 1 m 8 m 2 l w NB J e .m S e. s H A F 1 T 3 2 7 2 l l GreatBritain...................,

[21] Appl' 275915 Primary Examiner--William T. Dixson, Jr.

Assistant Examiner-Allan N. Shoap [30] Foreign Application Priority DataJuly 30, 1971 Belgium............................... 770714 0mm 6 01 oaflm m e s t a vm mnb U C d a n 1 Th 3 km W hD. Tb w ,C e.me n h R Wen Ham o n A am we! a oe om n y Od fl e n ed V .m w 7 .1 h'lo .UTwP 4 m w mwmA 2 7 ,A9w 1 a. www /2 110,1 22 2 2H 6 7B m 1 23m m mfim 3mm r .0 WW L.f C Sm UIF HUN 55 consists of four wires running perpendicular to oneanother, the base and upper surface being parallel to one another at adistancepractically equal to the height of the flower pots to be placedtherein.

3,358,868 Purucker 2 660,328 Averill 11 Claims, 3 Drawing FiguresPATENTEHM" 3.784.044

SHEET 1 [IF 2 PAIENTED JAN 974 SHEET 2 [IF 2 WIRE BOX R CRATE Wire boxesor crates for the transportation, storage, etc. of all sorts of goodsare universally known. This invention aims at producing a special typeof wire box, which is particularly suited for the placing in it offlower pots filled with vegetable earth and sand or bulbs, whereby theseboxes with the flower ports placed in them can be stacked on top of oneanother very compactly and solidly, and whereby the sprouting and growthof the young plants or flowers is able to take place in the mostfavorable conditions.

For this, the invention proposes a wire box of the type mentioned in thebeginning, with the upper surface of the box divided evenly by weldedwires placed twoby two at a short distance from one another, so that theupper surface is divided into a number of squares, whereby the side ofeach square is equal or practically equal to the diameter of the uppersurface of the flower pots to be placed therein, and by two single outerwires, whereby the distance between these outer wires and the borderwires parallel to them and located nearest to them is equal or almostequal to half the side of the squares formed, the base surface of thebox being provided with pairs of cross-wires, at regular distance fromone another and practically level with the center of the squares formedin the upper surface, the distance between two cross-wires belonging toeach other being smaller than the diameter of the base surface of thepots to be supported and the distance between the two cross-wireslocated next to each other of pairs of crosswires adjoining each otheris smaller than the diameter of the upper surface of the pots to besupported.

By seeing to it that when stacking the boxes according to the inventionon top of one another the boxes following one another are moved aroundin turn over an angle of 180 in relation to one another, or, in otherwords, by ensuring that for each set of successive boxes the two singleouter wires do not lie under each other, the great advantage is obtainedfor each set of two successive boxes or layers in that the flower potsin the bottom box or layer are located at the level of the space betweenfour pots lying next to one anotherin the layer above, or this meansthat the flower pots and the box of the upper layer form no obstacle tothe sprouting and growth of the young plants orflowers in the layerlocated underneath.

Another important advantage is that when transporting or shifting astack of wire boxes placed on top of one another according to theinvention, the pots placed therein remain very firmly in their place.Even ifa stack of boxes, i.e., 30 or more, is placed in a very tiltingposition, all the pots will remain in place very correctly due to theclamping action between the wires in the upper surface of a box with thewires of the base surface of a box placed above, because the distancebetween the two cross-wires located next to each other of pairs ofcross-wires located next to each other is smaller than the diameter ofthe upper plane of the pots placed therein. v

Another important advantage of the boxes according to the invention isthat, notwithstanding the compact stacking of these boxes, the spacespresent between the pots are big because the space taken up by the boxmaterial is very small, and due to the crossed stacking of the pots inthe successive layers. This is of great importance because these flowerpots are subjected during 2, the cultivation period to sprayings, areplaced'in greenhouses with regulated temperature, etc., whereby all theplants and flowers are able to sprout and grow to the same extent.

A further important advantage of such boxes is their long service lifecompared with the wooden boxes so far known, which easily rot as theyare subjected to heavily rotting factors such as humidity, someartificial fertilizers, etc.

Therefore, a primary object of this invention is to provide a wire cratefor flower pots and the like which overcomes the disadvantages of priorart crates.

Another object of this invention is to provide a wire crate which isstackable.

A further object of this invention is to provide a stackable wire crateso constructed that when two of said crates are stacked so that one isturned 180 with respect to the other, the flower pots in the upper cratewill not be directly above the pots in the lower crates.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a crate for flowerpots which will have a long service life compared to prior art crateswhen used under conditions of plant propagation.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will becomemore apparent when considered in light of the following description,claims, and appended drawings.

The invention will be explained more in detail in the followingdescription with the help of the relevant drawings in which:

FIG. 1a: a wire crate according to the invention in perspective,

FIG. 1b: two wire crates placed on top of each other, and

FIG. 2: in top view two wire crates placed on top of each other, wherebycertain parts of the crateson both sides of line I I have been omittedso as to make the figure clearer.

The wire crate 1 shown in FIG. 1 according to the invention consistscompletely of wires welded to one another. The frame of upper surface 2and base surface I 3 consists of four wires running perpendicular to oneanother, i.e., cross-wires 4 and longitudinal wires St Upper surface 2and base surface 3 are located parallel to each other at a distanceequal or almost equal to the height of the flower pots 6 to be placedtherein. These planes 2 and 3 are spaced preferably at a smallerdistance from each other than the height of the flower pots 6 to beplaced'therein (see FIG. 1b). Upper surface 2 and base surface 3 areconnected to each other by U-shaped braces 7. Upper surface 8 of these,braces 7 is bent round over an angle of so that this part of braces 7runs almost parallel to the base and upper surface. The legs of braces 7are connected to one another by means of a supporting wire 9, which runsparallel to the upper surface 2 and is located above this upper surface2 and below the upper portion 8 of the braces 7. These supporting wires9 form the actual supporting surface for the crate to be placedthereupon. The angular points are reinforced by means of upright wires10 between supporting wire 9 and the angular point of the frame of thebase surface. Upright wires 11 are mounted at some points along theperiphery of the crate between the base and upper surface. I

The upper surface 2 of the crate 1 is evenly divided into a number ofsquares 12 having a side length S by wires 13 mounted perpendicular toeach other, two by two at a short distance from each other. The side ofeach square 12 is equal or almost equal to the diameter of the uppersurface of the pots 6 to be placed in the crate 1. With the crate shownin FIG. 1b, the diameter of the upper surface of the pots 6 placed inthe crate 1 is somewhat bigger than the side of the squares 12 in theupper surface 2. The upper surface 2 is also provided with two singleouter wires 14; whereby the distance between these outer wires 14 andthe nearest border wires 4, of the frame 2, located parallel to thesewires 14, is equal or practically equal to half the side of the squares12 formed. 1

The base surface 3 of the crate 1 is provided with pairs of cross-wireslocated at regular intervals from each other. These pairs of cross-wires15 are situated under the center of the squares 12 formed in the uppersurface 2 (see FIG. 2), or in other words, distances d, and d in the topview between wires 13 and 15 for any column of squares 12 arepractically equal to one another. The distance between two cross-wires15 belonging to each other is smaller than the diameter of the basesurface of'the pots 6, so that these pots 6 are supported when in use bythose wires 15 (see FIG. 1b). The distance between the two cross-wiresl5 lying next to each other is smaller than the diameter of the uppersurface of pots 6 to be supported. The base surface 3 of the crate l isconsolidated or reinforced by means of two longitudinal wires 16. Theselongitudinal wires 16 are situated under the center of the squares 12formed in the upper surface 2 (see FIG. 2), or in other words, thedistance D and D 2 in the top view between the wires 13 and 16 for anyrow of squares 12 are practically equal to each other.

In FIG. 2, for the sake of clarity, with a set of two crates placed ontop of each other and turned over an angle of I80 in relation to eachother, certain parts to the left and right ofline I I have been leftout. For the upper wire crate 1 only the upper surface of the rightportion is shown, while for the bottom wire crate l the left portion isshown in full and for the right portion only the base plane (dottedline) is shown. It can be seen clearly from this FIG. 2 that the pots 6(dotted line) of the bottom layer are located under the point ofintersection of wires 13 in the upper surface of the top layer.

It is obvious that many variants are possible within the framework ofthe invention. Thus, instead of the two by two wires 13 placed at ashort distance from each other in the upper surface 2 single wires 13can also be used. However, with some types of flower pots this canresult in less easy stacking. It is also possible to replace the pairsof cross-wires 15 in base surface 3 by single cross-wires 15. Here againthis will lead usually to less efficient stacking with most kinds offlower pots.

While this invention has been described, it will be understood that itis capable of further modification, and this application is intended tocover any variations, uses and/or adaptations of the invention followingin genera], the principle of the invention and including such departuresfrom the present disclosure as come within known or customary practicein the art to which the invention pertains, and as may be applied to theessential features hereinbefore set forth, as fall within the scope ofthe invention or the limits of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

l. A stackable wire crate for flower pots and the like comprising:

a. an upper frame member and a lower frame member,

b. said upper frame member having two ends and two sides,

c. said upper frame member having a first series of spaced parallel wiremeans secured thereto,

d. said upper frame members having a second series ofspaced parallel.wire means secured thereto and transverse to said first series,

e. said first series forming with said second series a plurality ofopenings of a firstuniform size and a plurality of openings of a smallersize,

f. said openings of said smaller size forming with each other only twointersecting rows along an adjacent end and side of said upper framemember,

g. said openings of said first uniform size forming with each other aplurality of intersecting rows and one opening of any row of said firstsize openings being adjacent one of said openings of said smaller size,

h. whereby when one ofsaid crates is rotated with respect to another ofsaid crates and stacked on said other of said crates, none of saidopenings of said first size in said one of said crates will be directlyabove the openings of said first size in said other of said crates.

2. A wire crate as in claim I and wherein:

a. said lower frame member includes support means beneath each of saidopenings of said first size for supporting flower pots or the like insaidopenings,

b. said support means includes a plurality of wire elements extendingbetween said sides so that one of said wire elements is positioned belowthe centers of each of said openings of said first size in eachsuperjacent row of said openings.

3. A wire crate as in claim 1 and including:

a. support means comprising a plurality of pairs of wire elementsextending between said sides so that each of said pairs of wire elementsis positioned below the centers of each of said first size squareopenings in each superjacent row of said first size square openings.

4. A wire crate as in claim 1 and including:

a. a corner bracket member at each corner of said frame and extendingfrom said lower frame member to abovesaid upper frame member forpositioning said one of said crates when stacked upon said other of saidcrates.

5. A wire crate as in claim 4 and including:

a. means associated with said corner bracket member for supporting saidone of said crates in vertically spaced relationship with respect tosaid other of said crates.

6. A wire crate as in claim 1 and wherein:

a. said first series of said wire means includes a plurality of spacedparallel pairs of wires.

7. A wire crate as in claim 1 and wherein:

a. said second series of spaced parallel wire means includes a pluralityof spaced parallel pairs of wires.

8. A wire crate as in claim 1 and wherein:

a. said first and second series of spaced parallel wire means eachincludes a plurality of spaced parallel pairs of wires.

9. A wire crate as in claim 8 and wherein:

a. each wire in each of said pairs of wires is spaced slightly from theother wire in said pair.

10. A wire crate as in claim 3 and wherein: 11. A wire crate as in claim1 and including: a. said lower frame member includes wire reinforcing a.wire reinforcing means connecting said upper and means extendingtransversely to said wire elelower frame members. ments.

1. A stackable wire crate for flower pots and the like comprising: a. anupper frame member and a lower frame member, b. said upper frame memberhaving two ends and two sides, c. said upper frame member having a firstseries of spaced parallel wire means secured thereto, d. said upperframe members having a second series of spaced parallel wire meanssecured thereto and transverse to said first series, e. said firstseries forming with said second series a plurality of openings of afirst uniform size and a plurality of openings of a smaller size, f.said openings of said smaller size forming with each other only twointersecting rows along an adjacent end and side of said upper framemember, g. said openings of said first uniform size forming with eachother a plurality of intersecting rows and one opening of any row ofsaid first size openings being adjacent one of said openings of saidsmaller size, h. whereby when one of said crates is rotated 180* withrespect to another of said crates and stacked on said other of saidcrates, none of said openings of said first size in said one of saidcrates will be directly above the openings of said first size in saidother of said crates.
 2. A wire crate as in claim 1 and wherein: a. saidlower frame member includes support means beneath each of said openingsof said first size for supporting flower pots or the like in saidopenings, b. said support means includes a plurality of wire elementsextending between said sides so that one of said wire elements ispositioned below the centers of each of said openings of said first sizein each superjacent row of said openings.
 3. A wire crate as in claim 1and including: a. support means comprising a plurality of pairs of wireelements extending between said sides so that each of said pairs of wireelements is positioned below the centers of each of said first sizesquare openings in each superjacent row of said first size squareopenings.
 4. A wire crate as in claim 1 and including: a. a cornerbracket member at each corner of said frame and extending from saidlower frame member to above said upper frame member for positioning saidone of said crates when stacked upon said other of said crates.
 5. Awire crate as in claim 4 and including: a. means associated with saidcorner bracket member for supporting said one of said crates invertically spaced relationship with respect to said other of saidcrates.
 6. A wire crate as in claim 1 and wherein: a. said first seriesof said wire means includes a plurality of spaced parallel pairs ofwires.
 7. A wire crate as in claim 1 and wherein: a. said second seriesof spaced parallel wire means includes a plurality of spaced parallelpairs of wires.
 8. A wire crate as in claim 1 and wherein: a. said firstand second series of spaced parallel wire means each includes aplurality of spaced parallel pairs of wires.
 9. A wire crate as in claim8 and wherein: a. each wire in each of said pairs of wires is spacedslightly from the other wire in said pair.
 10. A wire crate as in claim3 and wherein: a. said lower frame member includes wire reinforcingmeans extending transversely to said wire elements.
 11. A wire crate asin claim 1 and including: a. wire reinforcing means connecting saidupper and lower frame members.